Ken Bates's bid to regain control of Leeds United has been placed on hold, with creditors asked to return next week for a recount of the vote. Bates, who placed the club in administration on May 4 with debts of £35m, is expected to have his offer to buy back the club accepted by the slimmest of margins.

But because the creditors' vote was so close the club's administrator, KPMG, adjourned the meeting and the recount will be held on Monday morning at Elland Road. Bates requires 75% of the vote to have his offer of 1p in the pound accepted by creditors and the original count showed he had 75.02%.

The chairman of Leeds United Supporters' Club, Ray Fell, said he was disappointed that no decision had been made. "I think fans will be bewildered, as they were hoping for some indication of where Leeds will be going, but that has not happened because this will run and run for a while.

"It's possible that this will go to the courts. It could be any one of the creditors who can challenge it legally and it will not be a surprise to me if that happens from what I have heard today.

"Fans will be concerned that Leeds will not be up and running and ready to start the new season in August and once all this is resolved the fans get a board of directors that they deserve," he added.

Leeds, Champions League semi-finalists in 2001, reached the Championship play-off final in Cardiff in 2005 but struggled throughout last season and were all but relegated to League One even before being put into administration and handed the obligatory 10-point penalty.

The Premier League is to strengthen its rules governing third-party influence over player contracts in the wake of the Carlos Tevez affair, its summer meeting agreed yesterday.

Debate over the legality of West Ham United's signing of the Argentinian continues to overshadow the Premier League, but with Sheffield United's objections to the matter due to be settled by arbitration this month the issue was not discussed in detail yesterday. Instead club chairmen agreed that for the sake of clarity a rule requiring clubs to make explicit disclosure of all documents relating to the transfer of a player's registration and any other third- party contracts would be adopted.

Club chairmen also endorsed the existing disciplinary procedures whereby serious breaches of regulations are referred to an independent disciplinary commission. It was such a commission that ruled that West Ham should not be docked points for rule breaches in the Tevez affair, a judgment which has enraged four clubs, Wigan, Fulham, Charlton and Sheffield United.

Last week Fulham wrote to the Premier League board declaring they too would seek arbitration in relation to the West Ham affair, but according to a statement released by the Premier League last night other member clubs present yesterday have urged them to withdraw the action.

A change in the rules governing loans between Premier League clubs is also likely. Controversy over Tim Howard, the Everton goalkeeper prevented from facing his former club Manchester United by a gentlemen's agreement, caused controversy at the end of this season and the Premier League board is likely to recommend that the rules be changed to prevent a similar occurrence in future. There may also be limits placed on the number of goalkeepers any one club can loan out.

Five Premier League representatives were elected to the FA council: the Premier League chairman Sir Dave Richards, Phil Gartside of Bolton, David Gill from Manchester United, Maurice Lindsay, a member of the Wigan board, and Fulham's Mark Collins.

With the reduction in the size of the FA board brought by the Burns reforms, Blackburn's Robert Coar dropped off the board. Richards, Gill and Gartside will remain the Premier League's representatives.